460 REPORT OF KATIONAL MUSEUM, 1903. 



hoiiso, ])uilt for the purpose, 175 feet lono- by 65 feet wide, capa))le of 

 holdino- 20(),()(H) voluiiie.s. The transfer of over !)0,000 books, pam- 

 phh'ts, etc., was completed in a week. The ])uiklin^ contained an 

 auditorium in which up to the year 1892 1:2 lectures had been g-iven 

 to audiences varying from 220 to 550 persons, under the auspices of 

 an association that had been formed with the name the Newberry 

 Library Center for Universit}- Extension. In the same year the 

 library, then managed by a single surviving trustee, was incorporated 

 ])y the State under the name of the Newberry Lil)rary, and the 

 trustee mentioned nominated a board of 13 trustees that had the power 

 to elect its own president. ELleven of these tirst ti'ustees or directors 

 still retain their office. They are all men of wealth and prominence in 

 the city, all are at the head of great affairs, some of them of interna- 

 tional reputation. At the end of 1893 the new library building was 

 ready, the transfer of over 150,000 books, pamphlets, etc., being com- 

 pleted in ten da3^s. 



The general plan for the building was already settled upon in 1888, 

 as follows: It was to provide sufficient room to meet the demands of 

 at least twenty-live 3^ears and to be so constructed that additions to the 

 original plan could be built from time to time; it must avoid " the con- 

 fessed errors of the conventional stjde, it nmst have the eiiuipment of 

 what is in the highest sense an educational institution — an audience 

 room, reading rooms, study rooms, and every arrangement that would 

 make the resources of the library availa))le to those seeking its treas- 

 ures. It must have also the conveniences for administration, for 

 study, and for the storage of books, which the concurrent experience 

 of modern times demands." This tine problem, conceived according 

 to the ideas of W. F. Poole, was in 1888 confided to the architect, 

 Henry Ives Col)b. In 1889 the site was selected, about one and a half 

 acres, in a small park, midway between Lake and Lincoln parks, not 

 far from the shore of the lake, in a region comparatively free from 

 smoke and near a great artery of travel with an electric railway. The 

 building, ])egun in 1890, required an expenditure of over $500,000, 

 which was defrayed from the accumulated interest and a part of the 

 capital. The great structure is three-storied,^ built of pink Milford, 

 Connecticut, granite and presents an imposing as well as a tasteful 

 appearance, especially in summer, under the high old trees of Walton 

 Place. The present structure, however, is only a third of the contem- 

 plated one, which is to form a great quadrangle with a court in the 

 center. Internal convenience to a certain extent has been sacrificed 

 to architectural beauty. The basement is 10 feet high, the first floor 

 20 feet, the second and third floors 26 feet each, and the fourth floor 



<i In America it if^ called five-storied, as the basement and ground floor are each 

 counted as a story, but often, also, as in this case, the ground floor is counted as the 

 (irst story and the basement not included in the enumeration of stories. 



